"They would soon now be going forward into lands wholly strange to them, and beyond all but the most vague and distant legends of the Shire, and in the gathering twilight they longed for home. A deep loneliness and sense of loss was on them." ~ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring, Chapter 8: Fog on the Barrow-Downs.

Welcome one and all to another Kingmaker hero venture!

It occurred to me recently that I have made several Twilight Elf heroes split across different threads, generally on their own, and set out to assembles these Avengers (and Harassers and Evokers and...) into a single thread. All four of these heroes have gone through changes from their original forms - some more than others - (Sylvio was initially a Sylvan Elf but fit the Twilight Race and this thread far better) and I hope they reflect the work that Kingmaker Past and Kingmaker Present have done on them.

These heroes also have the added (and skin-deep) gimmick that their fifth power has two forms; as a regular power and as a Hero Spell, therefore allowing the hero to fit into both Frontiers and Origins. I have indicated my preference in that the other power is in brackets and far briefer, but this allows you to decide when any of these Twilight Elves were redeemed and joined the player's cause.

As always I welcome any and all feedback, no matter how harsh or constructive, and have chosen to leave both a change-log and my own thoughts at the top of this page to help guide feedback.Without further ado:

Change-log:16th October - added image links where appropriate to help visualising powers and smoothed out some formatting.

My thoughts:Burden might be too erratic with his mayhem, and by contrast Sylvio's powers might be too reserved. Diana's powers could be entirely reworked because I'm very uncertain in them. I'd love any lore pointers - is Diana's too short while the others are too long? Are any of them understandable?

Coming Soon..:Arch-Scourger: Ever been so angry you held your desiccated spirit together for thirty years of confinement and then reconstituted your physical form once free? She has. Don't get in her way.Praeno: Cyndar's boyfriend may not be the host for a galactic entity, but he earned his title of 'Nameclaimer' on his own merits. Shadeslayer and Shardstealer, Dragontamer and Daemondueller, Goldweaver and Gullfeeder. The Immune. The Indomitable. The Immortal. That's about a twentieth of his formal titles, let alone what he is named in myth and folklore. He's done it all.

Burden, the Innocent:Burden is a teenage Twilight Elf with short cut white hair; he wears the cape and chest armour of a Harasser - which are comically large for him - alongside tattered grey shorts, all of which emphasise his light blue skin. He clutches the continent-destroying book of Baj’Nimen in both hands, with wispy violet smoke drifting out from between its ornate purple covers, continually reading and flipping through its pages, sitting cross-legged if idle and jumping into the book upon death, as it closes.[i]

Stats: (Level 4 to Level 10)Health: [i]200350 25 (Regen: 35/s)Armour:None (0%) Low (30%) 5%Damage: 23-3850-65 3.3-3.3 single-target magic damage every 2 seconds, holding his hand over a page of the book, causing a purple magic orb like those of Baj’Nimen to fall onto the path. In melee Burden picks up the book and hits enemies with it as it glows purple, with the same damage and time interval.Speed: Fast, closes the book and runs with it, with his overly large cape billowing behind him.Innates:Paper Chase: Burden can reach impassable areas by jumping into the book and moving in a whirl of pages over gaps or canyons, moving as fast as his regular speed while doing so.Arachnophobia: As an arachnophobe, Burden’s fear manifests through the book and turns his attacks a far darker shade of purple, dealing true damage whenever Spiders are near.Absorption: Burden is occasionally immune to magic damage, with enemy magic attacks having a 10% chance of being drawn into the book and recharging a random power by 1 second.

Powers: White Pages (Passive): Reading pages sewn out of the Sleeping Trees, Burden’s knowledge expands and proliferates, giving his base attack three independent 2.5/5/10% chances of stunning for 2 seconds, summoning a sylvan curse for 4 seconds or dealing double damage, all of which can stack their effects. In melee Burden instead absorbs the desires and emotions of the enemy he is facing into the book, upgrading his ranged attack to streaks of wispy black smoke with a 10/20/30% chance of disintegrating the enemies they hit for 12/24/36 seconds after 4 melee hits.Mischievous Charm (15 seconds): Pulling a page out of his book, Burden throws it at an enemy as a bright purple paper aeroplane, dealing 50/100/150 True damage to a single target and applying a random area effect (silence, stun, burn, etc.) for 5 seconds, in addition to all three White Pages buffs.Mutual Torment (20 seconds): Putting his fingers into the book and pulling out a purple ring of energy between his thumb and index finger, Burden frisbees it to the feet of his current target to form a purple Sylvan Curse, causing this enemy to be linked to the strongest enemy on the map, each party taking 125/150/200% the damage dealt to the other for 5 seconds. If his current target is the strongest enemy, 50% of its base health worth of enemies are connected instead. White Pages and Mischievous charm effects are linked, instakills on the large enemy cause the Curse to carry over to the next strongest enemy.Problem Shared (35 seconds): Burden shows the book to any single enemy or 350/525/700 health worth of enemies, disintegrating them into purple light and ripped up paper, while leaving a violently-violet rune on the ground that ruptures when at least three enemies are within its medium radius, dealing True damage equivalent to 50% of the base health of the enemies it disintegrated.Hero Spell: Bookwyrm (50 seconds): A tear in reality opens like ripped paper in the tapped area, with 1/2/3/4 smaller versions of Baj’Nimen’s Wyrm crawling out, being able to be moved to engage and block enemies. Regular (purple) Bookwyrms have 200/300/400/500 health, 5/15/30/50% magic resistance and bite with repulsive mandibles to deal 10-30/20-40/30-50/40-60 magic damage every 2 seconds. Burden can also summon red Wyrms with physical damage and armour, a Wyrm of any other colour with doubled damage but no resistances and an albino with white skin, red eyes and doubled health that deals double True Damage. All types of Wyrm are equally possible and share in his instakill buff from White Pages if it is active, fading into similar shadows should they die.(Bookwyrm (30 seconds): Summons a purple Bookwyrm that can be moved independently with 100/250/400 health, 15/30/50% Magic resistance and deal 10-30/20-40/30-50 physical damage for 15 seconds, biting with its disgusting mandibles every 2 seconds with a 20% chance of instakill on each attack.)

Lore:Ainyl’s orders were clear and succinct: ‘Expand our arcane forces - money no object; Cult and Clique at your disposal; train for war.’ The Arch-Scourger was surprised, but dared not question her Queen’s sister’s prerogative - everyone in Duredhel knew Ainyl’s position was hers by ability, not nepotism - and her new control over the Heretic Cult and Evoker Clique greatly increased her political standing. Thus she set her new followers to work, reigniting the old rivalry between Scourgers and Evokers as to who were the most effective warriors and teachers at great benefit to her forces. However, the Cult Leader of the Heretics had no respect for the Arch-Scourger, or ‘Matron’ as she had been nicknamed, and ordered his followers to stalk the streets and snatch anyone with magic they detected. One clear evening an aimless stroll under the moon lead him to an alley in the dredges of the city and the boy sat idly on its cobblestones, counting the stars.Immense, but evasive, power could be felt in the boy as he sat in a secret room in the Sorcerer’s Spires shared by the three magical orders and the Cult Leader let out a great astral shout when the young mind repelled him once again. Swift as a shadow, the Arch-Scourger located and destroyed the door to the room, but was ensnared in the Heretic’s dark grip and unable to move as a well-rehearsed monologue began to spill out of the smug grin on his ratty face. She ignored his words - about specifically training to counteract her powers, about his Cult stealing away boys for his own army and about his plans for the forces her death would gift him - but allowed herself to watch what happened next. With a scream she tore herself asunder and her Banshee hurtled outwards, tethered to her by a purple thread at her core, gnawing and scratching at the Cult Leader, his mouth still moving the gashes in his trachea preventing his words from reaching it and his grin barely fading as it fell to the floor, his body joining it a moment later. Entirely ignoring Burden, the Banshee clawed at the ground as the Arch-Scourger retracted its tether, releasing repulsive noises as it vanished into her abdomen, which jittered rapidly with her tense breaths. Throwing the Cult their Leader’s head and ordering the children returned to their homes, she led Burden by the hand as he stared wide-eyed at the narrowing ceilings above him, until eventually she reached the door of her most-trusted graduate student, handed her the boy, and left in the knowledge he would be removed quickly and with discretion. But Lynn was not entirely merciless, even if those who observed her duels would not believe so, and she could not bring herself to even consider harming the child. She had killed before and would again - she had even been formulating plans for the Marshal’s Fatal Tourney when she had answered her door - but not like this; her attachment to the innocent before her felt so natural and instinctive that she could not question it. Instead, she gave him her old books to contain his curiosity and recontinued her training to be the champion of the Dark Marshal, new combinations of Hexes arriving before her - both by her own perseverance, and by notes scribbled in margins by Burden, who was unresponsive as to how he knew such cutting edge magic. Seeing a curious opportunity in the boy, she took him to the forbidden library at the tip of a nearby Spire, its ancient tomes being illicit and its dusty corridors being untrodden on the orders of the Arch-Scourger, which were now followed with impunity. Abseiling down the Spire every evening in secret to continue working on her Greatblade at the Waning Forge in the courtyard below and bringing Burden food when she returned, she gained his cryptic and aloof insights in return for warm food and began moulding them into a ferocious and efficient new brand of arcane combat. As the Tourney neared, she had gone into the library with fresh rabbit stew, but quickly grew nervous as she could not find her ward. Eventually searching the taboo shelves where books of great and forbidden power rested, altering reality around them even as they lay closed, she found him, flicking through the pages of a huge purple tome. She could feel the book tug at her desires, but she had the resilience to ignore it, an Burden greatly enjoyed reading the book and kept it with him at all times, so she allowed him to keep it, his knowledge of magic increasing exponentially as he continued through the book, never making much progress through its pages despite consistently studying from it. As he grew in age and knowledge his vocabulary increased correspondingly, soon beginning to use full sentences and joke at Lynn’s stoicism, much to her chagrin. One clear evening at his request she took down Burden to watch her complete the Greatblade, taking it out of the Waning Forge and inscribing runes and charms into it as a concentrated moonbeam caused its metal to remain supple, the innocent reaching to the greatsword and scribed glyphs from his tome - of a language long-extinct or not-yet-conceived - into its hilt, creating a great purple glow about it as he finished and absent-mindedly grasped the hilt in his free hand, passing it effortlessly to Lynn and christening it ‘The Hexblade, for mother the Hexblade’. Struggling to hold both the immense sword and her tears Lynn hurried Burden back into the library via the kitchens, both of them grinning at their achievement and each other, Burden putting down the book to accept Lynn’s hug, the first time it had left his fingers for many moons. With an entirely new discipline of magic at her disposal, Lynn faced no competition in the Fatal Tourney even as she toned down her Hexes as to not arouse suspicion. Now the personal bodyguard of the Dark Marshal, the fear Baj’Nimen’s name provoked became synonymous with the title ‘Hexblade’, and the placing of a hex on the door to each forbidden library in the Sorcerer’s Spires kept Burden safe from prying onlookers, even if the hex on his door was only paint. The Innocent had also become more social and extroverted as he spent more time away from the book, taking up the post of Lynn’s errand-boy, with her mockery of this low title countering the embarrassment he could provoke by calling her ‘mother’. Almost a year later, the city emptied and the war long planned fully began. Already there had been complications; the siege of Aredhel had been a pyrrhic victory instead of a resounding and final triumph with some of their most valuable troops - the Arch-Scourger, most of the Heretic Cult and Evoker Clique and all of the brutish, twisted living siege weapons - having been devastated by the wizard whose name was only fearfully whispered in the spires: Vez’Nan. He whom even Ainyl could not destroy - her defeat and presumed disintegration so total no trace of her remained, his name spoken with immense trepidation, as if he would hear and appear before them to blast more of their forces apart. Any efforts to reach the Queen Amarthael had been thwarted by the Abbot of the Bladesingers, with the Queen, her husband and her three bodyguards escaping to a location unknown and the attackers being forced to retreat and lick their wounds. The battle at the Palace was recorded in histories as the Twilight Gap, and the mournful cries of mothers discordantly unified in ruing Vez’Nan and the Prince Denas of Linirea, who held the Gap in the Palace wall together. Only two months after the first twisted peaens had echoed across Duredhel’s cobblestones they were joined by the voice of almost every mother in the city after news of Malicia’s defeat and subsequent death, the Spires erupting into grief, panic and disarray. Taking up the position of ruler and enforcing himself with extreme force and giant beetles, Baj’Nimen established a rocky peace, but knew the many mothers of the city would bay for his blood as willingly as that of Vez’Nan if he could not conjure a plan for vengeance. Upon walking to Lynn’s modest quarters one clear evening he found himself drawn to a door with a faded hex upon its front, and walked into the shelves beyond. Detecting his desperation, powerful magic and waning sanity, the abandoned book of Burden claimed Baj’Nimen as its next owner. But he was not as innocent, nor as compatible with its teachings, and while the Dark Marshal had eaked out three powerful spells, his use of its forbidden power was brutish and imprecise, although this only aided him in the end - his cataclysmic continent-ending spell exacerbated extreme weather and seismic activity instead of calming them, his conjured wyrm was warped and far larger than biology would allow and his disintegrating blasts left a black goo that soon became his trademark. With a large sum of gold to the right person granting him Malicia’s staff, alongside his new arsenal of powers and trickling sanity, Baj’Nimen was ready and gathered Twilight armies to his cause, marching to reclaim the Unseelie Court and crown himself the Twilight King. But this was not to be.Burden fled with Lynn from Duredhel on a clear evening, their path open as Baj’Nimen made his case before the entire city. While not having been as ready to fight against the manic dictator as Lynn, now that Baj’Nimen been defeated and his tome reclaimed, Burden has retaken his book such that no other less pure than himself may learn its embargoed gifts and is ready to face whatever comes next with his analytical eyes and treasury of powerful magic.

Playstyle Overview:Blissful in his ignorance, Burden can deal excellent and versatile damage through his ranged attacks and powers even as they catalyse a cacophony of beneficial secondary effects, bringing managed mischief onto your side of the battle. While remaining in melee for long periods is unsustainable due to his low health and armour, the unheard-of passive insta-kill chance Burden can gain provides an entirely new realm of risky-and-rewarding possibility to canny players.

Sylvio, the Survivor:Tall and lithe, Sylvio has a softer skin tone than most other Twilight Elves, more grey than blue, while his short-cut hair is deep red instead of white – matching his remaining, furiously glowing eye, along with the inside of his trench coat-like cloak. The outside of his cloak is deep black and its upturned hood guises most of his face, but many scars and marks can still be seen, as well as his right eye, sitting blind and lame. He wears striking grey chainmail under the cloak and his left hip is occupied by a long wide knife with an inscribed bone handle, while his right hip has a long black cylinder strapped to it, which he tensely throws between his hands if idle.[i]

Stats: (Level 5 to Level 10)Health: [i]455555 20 (Regen: 25/s)Armour:15%40% 5%MeleeDamage: 15-2545-55 8-8 damage every 2 seconds, holding the cylinder in both hands and forming a sleek silver spear that bristles with orange energy, spinning it and doing leaps or tricks while slashing and stabbing.RangedDamage: 25-3555-65 6-6 damage every 3 seconds, holding the cylinder in his left hand and forming a crackling silver longbow from which he fires red bolts of energy formed in his right hand, firing calmly and with incredible accuracy.Speed: Very Fast, moving in a blur and leaving a static wake.Innate:Adaptability: Sylvio can use physical or magic damage in any and all of his attacks, indicated by additional splays of coloured lightning for all his attacks and powers if using magic damageUnbreakable: For every 25 damage Sylvio takes, his damage increases by 2.5-2.5 in melee and 3.5-3.5 at range up to base 100-110 melee and 132-142 ranged damage.

Powers: Precision Throw (15 seconds): Sylvio niftily flips and throws his dagger at the head of a nearby enemy, the runes on its handle glowing yellow and dealing 1.5/2/3x his current melee damage before the blade flashes with gold lightning and returns to his hand or his hip.Nova Bolt (20 seconds): His silver bow being overtaken with red energy, Sylvio fires a streaking crimson bolt at an enemy, which explodes in a bristling dome, dealing 1/1.5/2x Sylvio’s current damage within a wide area.Hunter’s Instinct (Passive): With his renowned experiences hunting and being hunted, Sylvio has learned to predict and avoid all manner of attacks, granting him a 5/10/20% chance of dodging enemy attacks - melee or ranged - increasing by 2.5% for every 25 health lost, up to 75%. When Sylvio dodges an attack, it restores 5 seconds from the cooldown of Precision Throw if melee or Nova Bolt if ranged, targeting the enemy whose attack was dodged if the corresponding power is ready.Blistering Blitz (25 seconds): Wreathed in orange lightning, the Survivor strikes a pose and watches for a second before performing this power, giving the player ample time to note it and stop it if desired. If surrounded by many small enemies, Sylvio crouches with the spear held behind him before leaping from enemy to enemy and slamming it into the ground 1/2/3 times, each slam dealing 2x his current melee damage in a medium area. If his eyes are on a lone, large target, Sylvio holds his left arm forwards and takes his right backwards before sprinting forward for two steps and flinging the spear as a wrathful javelin of orange light, dealing 5x his current ranged damage to a single target.Hero Spell: Arcstrider (45 seconds): A bolt of white lightning striking him, Sylvio moves in blurs with unparalleled agility and becomes an Arcstrider supercharged with the power of a Thunderdrake for 3/6/9/12 seconds. Excessive amounts of bristling white and cyan lightning flow and spark around his body, replacing the coloured energy in all his attacks and powers and causing him to dealing 1.25/1.5/2/2.5x damage with everything in his arsenal. Fuelled by and recycling his own energies, every kill with Nova Bolt or the slams from Blistering Blitz restore 2.5 from their cooldowns, kills with Precision Throw or the javelin hurl have a 25% chance of immediately restoring the power and the duration of Arcstrider increases by 3 seconds for every 100 health lost.(Arcstrider (30 seconds): Becomes supercharged with the lightning of a Thunderdrake for 3/6/9 seconds, dealing 2x damage with all attacks and powers, performing agile jumps and tricks while wreathed in lightning. (Deals 100 True area damage if dead)

Lore:No amount of honed instincts and precise training can truly prepare someone for combat with a dragon - provided four moon cycles have passed since it hatched - due to the abundance of variables and unknowns, yet still the Dragonslayer’s Cult attempted to be ready for such occasions – even seeking them out. Recruiting, arming and training their members and stockpiling armouries of esteemed or noteworthy weapons to the chagrin of officially sanctioned military orders, the Dragonslayers wreaked vengeance against dragons all across the Elven Lands, led by the last Heima; Leha, an Ice Elf who had slain the Emerald King, a great dragon, alongside Sylvio and Rhenius - their Tel’Quasir Loremaster - as the first kill of a united Cult. In an attempt to broker a peace and save her people, Queen Amarthael herself had visited the Dragon Throne with only her husband - the esteemed Jewelsmith - and her three bodyguards, but despite returning unharmed there was no treaty or agreement - the Emerald Prince asserted that he held no sway over the dragons, great and small, that ravaged the Sylvan countryside and Amarthael disavowed any connection the Dragonslayers – neither truly believing the other despite their immense telepathic abilities and honest intentions.A founding and infamous member of the Cult, Sylvio had been the only one of the first Dragonslayers with a kill already to his name – it had been the worst storm in living memory, erratic bursts of lightning eventually striking the egg of a Thunderdrake and bringing doom to all nearby. Growing larger and more powerful by drawing in electricity, the Drake had destroyed an entire town before it faced down Sylvio alone. Engaging in futile combat and both thoroughly exhausted, Sylvio had dodged the long horn of the Thunderdrake, marring his face and blinding his right eye instead of fully impaling him – letting out an inhuman scream he grabbed its horn with both hands as a lightning bolt was drawn into it – going instead into Sylvio, along with the rest of the energy bristling within the Thunderdrake. Assaulted by rain, Sylvio let out great gulps of breath as the Dragon, lacking the energy to keep its heart beating, wheezed in pain and slowly died, before the Survivor himself lost consciousness. Leha had found him and dragged him to a cave, where Rhenius, a clairvoyant High Elven Mage, had joined them. Binding together in blood and oath, they formed their Cult and began to seek out new members, targets and a location for their base – settling on a hidden grove deep in the Verdant Edge, there they planned and launched their assault on the Emerald King of the Moors, killing the largest Great Dragon in the Elven Lands attracting them great notoriety. Fifteen years later and having greatly bolstered their ranks, Rhenius claimed to have translated an ancient map with locations to the nests planted by the Draconic Empress, the first dragon to have flown the skies, with the entire cult dispersing into groups of four to destroy each nest and only Leha remaining in the Edge to await news. Sylvio took off the nearby Evermeet Spines, as Leha and Rhenius needed him nearby, while others went beyond all known borders and across the Crystal sea, one quartet going to warn a newly-legitimised Dwarven Kingdom of an unfathomable nest beneath their Throne, even in the knowledge they would not feasably return. Such was the determination of a Dragonslayer.Descending into the depths of Evermeet, Sylvio and his three apprentices were quickly set upon by shadow and flame, the small drakes and serpents proving elusive to sword, bow and magic. Alone once again, Sylvio continued onwards until he reached a great opening and a shocking conclusion - Rhenius, for the first time, had been wrong – this was not a nest, but instead the Throne of Alkaran, the Lying Serpent. Ignoring the honeyed words and utopian visions intended to lower his guard, Sylvio forced Alkaran to face him directly, cutting swaths through the fiery atronachs and summoned shadows to take two swift swipes at the head of the Liar with his silver blade – a rattling sigh leaving the beast as its horn fell in two parts. With only a stump remaining and it’s source of power gone, the Serpent was greatly diminished in size and stature as it’s illusions faded and the large cavern emptied. Picking up a cylinder of the dark horn, Sylvio instinctively summoned a construct - fuelled by lightning instead of fire – taking the form of a long spear. Preparing to strike down the Great Drake, Sylvio was blasted back by a great wind as the Emerald Prince revealed himself, his emerald scales no longer diffracting light and guising the immense beast as it flew into the cavern from the east - curious as his Throne was to the north. Running to a viewpoint as otherworldly and terrible noises signalled the end of the Lying Serpent, the penultimate Great Dragon in the Elven lands, Sylvio could see the Verdant Edge burn.As soon as lighting would strike, Sylvio was at his second home, or at least what remained of it. The bunched armouries sat protected in bubbles of energy yet unreachable, surrounded by cyan flames. Leha lay in the middle of the clearing with four claw-holes in her chest, unresponsive as Sylvio ran to her and Rhenius stepped forward, unburnt and unharmed, mocking Leha’s trust and the rest of their Cult’s blind belief in his information. Ignoring Sylvio’s rash questions and confusion, the Loremaster only smirked as his physical form dissipated and the Emerald Prince teleported before the Survivor in an emerald flash, with no trace of his avatar remaining. For fifteen years the greatest dragon in the world had sat with, talked with and advised with the “greatest” Dragonslayers ever, and they had been entirely clueless. Scolding the Survivor and reminding him of the still binding oaths they had taken, the Emerald Prince stated that dragon’s oaths do not extend to kinslayers, allowing him to slay Leha and exact terminal vengeance. Offering Sylvio a ‘choice’, the Prince cited Sylvio’s aid in diminishing the power of Alkaran, and maintained their oath, promising no action against the Survivor by him or any dragon under his control, but Sylvio could not plan or cause harm to the Emerald Prince or his close brood.In a binding, if merciful, contract, Sylvio could do nothing as the Emerald Prince made his claim to the Eldest council, and as the last Great Dragon in the Elven Lands he was unanimously crowned the new Dragon King and lord of all Dragons beyond the Crystal Sea – nor could the Survivor act in violence when Amarthael returned to the Dragon Throne and finally brought peace to elves and dragons. Instead, he sought her out and joined her when she did so, taking negotiations from simply seeking an armistice to forming a long and fruitful unity, not apologising or seeking forgiveness for the dragons he had slain, but instead striving forwards and finding himself a place in the new world, which he must now protect.

Playstyle Overview Lightning quick and with his capabilities always increasing, Sylvio’s initially has a solid base of survivability and versatile damage but transforms as he loses health into a monster of damage potential. Low health is little issue with increased dodge chances and the consequent cooldown reduction - in addition to that from his Hero Spell - allows him to regularly be using his now-boosted abilities, all of his facets combining to make him an incredibly potent and notable battlefield force - ensure his health is always at the right amount for a current or forthcoming situation and you will be greatly rewarded.

Last edited by The Kingmaker on Wed Dec 13, 2017 9:27 am, edited 5 times in total.

Ainyl, the Scorned:Ainyl has a few changes from her Twilight Invasion appearance but remains largely the same. In addition to before, she now wears cobbled together armour over most of her body; her red cloak is tattered with holes and scars are visible all over her face. The purple gem from her staff is in what remains of her left hand – now a blackened and charred claw, motionless in its grip on the stone, while the rest of the staff sits in her right hand, its sharp, curved blade and long handle acting as a makeshift rhomphaia.

Stats: (Level 4 to Level 10)Health:250400 25 (Regen 40/s)Armour:45% (Medium) 75% (High) 5%Damage: 15-5030-65 3-3 physical damage every 2 seconds, slashing with her rhomphaiaSpeed: Very slow, limps to the target area. If her shield is up, she can teleport at the cost of 40 shield health.

Powers:Eerie Protection (Passive): Ainyl is protected by a shimmering, semi-translucent purple shield that absorbs 60/125/200 damage before shattering in pieces around her feet and has her armour rating as magic resistance. It is replenished when totally destroyed after 12 seconds in combat, or 6 seconds out of combat and shares in her regen rate if not destroyed, forming around her in hexagons from her front, overhead and around her sides before covering her back and becoming a smoother sphere.Assimilation (8 seconds): Teleporting an enemy or ally soldier at its moment of death in a violet flash, Ainyl absorbs it as an orb of energy much like Reg'Son, replenishing her shield by 5/10/15% of the troops’ maximum health. If regenerating the shield from it being totally destroyed, the flash is instead black and one of Ainyl's other abilities is recharged by 2 seconds, whereas if the shield is being reinforced, it glows brighter she becomes invulnerable for 2 seconds.Twilight Wrath (12 seconds): The purple crystal on Ainyl’s staff darkens, and a dark purple beam is fired out of it at a single enemy, dealing 75/125/175 True Damage. If Ainyl’s shield is up the beam sends a dark ripple around the shield through the edges of the hexagons from where it exits and if the blast kills its target it will be Assimilated, instead dealing an additional 75 damage as a pure-black beam with purple light subliming from its edges if the shield has been destroyed.Banshee Blitz (16 seconds): A hurtling wraith is released from the purple gem, flying into an enemy to root it in place and silence it for 3/5/8 seconds in a wrap of seething purple light. If Ainyl’s shield is destroyed the Banshee appears larger and more demented, lowering the target's damage by 25/50/75%, whereas if the shield is intact the enemy will take 33/67/100% more damage for the duration of the wraith’s grip.Blasting Hatred (20 seconds): Ainyl places a blasting curse on an enemy which explodes after a second to deal 65/125/200 true area damage in a wide radius and assimilate the largest enemy it kills. Ainyl, as a Twilight Elf, is immune – but reinforcements and barracks are not. If Ainyl's shield is destroyed, the curse throbs with black anguish and all the enemies and troops killed by the blast are assimilated, whereas if it is intact it will deal an additional 20/30/40 damage and not damage Barracks troops or reinforcements.(Hero Spell: Blasting Hatred (80 seconds): Places a volatile and dangerous curse on the tapped enemy, which explodes after a second to deal 100/200/300/400 True Damage in a wide area, enemies killed by the curse exploding after a second themselves to deal 20/40/60/80 True Damage in a far smaller area. Restores Ainyl’s health by 5/10/15/20% of the total damage dealt.)

Lore:Abandoned and shamed, the second daughter of Duredhel fled for her life. Her staff had been shattered when it was cast over the Aredhel Palace balcony, but it's purple stone - a Gem of Power formed in the days of Elynie - was intact. She clutched it in her left hand even as it charred her flesh, and grabbed what remained of the staff in her right.She had failed to completely gut Aredhel. She had failed to kill the Elven Queen, or even her Jewelsmith husband. She had even failed to protect herself - if not for the giant beetles flooding into the Throne room, the Bladesinger Abbot would have killed her. She was a failure - a mockery. Five years of her life, spreading discontent, stirring support and travelling afar; dealing with those who would fund enemies of Aredhel. Five years of her life, wasted on her late sister’s ambitions.The Abbot, it seemed, had not taken personal offence at her, she would not still breathe if he had, but many more wanted her bloodline and the power within it gone. She had no knowledge whether or not the blades in the dark that she narrowly evaded were wielded by her enemies, or wrathful old allies, but she fled from them anyway, albeit without reason or purpose. She had done less in in several decades than in the five years serving her sister, but she was alive, and the gem bestowed a number of new gifts she learned and refined during her many nomadic wanderings.Her wait was rewarded when through the claw that remained of her hand she could feel a great release of energy, such that only the death of a powerful sorcerer could give off such a signature – and she knew this one well for she had had tasted it that fateful day when everything had come crashing down. Vez'Nan had faced the entire Evoker Clique after they had breached the wall and marched to the Palace, calmly matching them spell for spell and disintegrated a great number of them before teleporting away to face the Arch-Scourger and the forces under her steely grip. Sending her remaining Evokers to clear a path to the palace, Ainyl, instead of aiding them, had watched from a distance as the Dark Wizard held in his hands the Banshee of the Arch-Scorger, his power blasting through its tether and killing the Matron before crushing the freed wraith between his palms. He deflected and ignored the Banshees of lesser Scourgers and Dark Grips of Heretics, taking control of the forbidden rite the cult undertook as hope faded and bending their summoned demon to his own will. At this point Ainyl finally turned away, with her forces decimated nine times over and her confidence destroyed as she walked past the bodies of her last Evokers and onwards to the Palace, her shattered ego being the only reason she had not faced down the Abbot and the only reason she stood now to feel of Vez’Nan’s death. She thanked him for that.The death of the Dark Wizard was refreshing to her, his powers would doubtless have eclipsed hers, especially after decades of apathy and no dedicated training - but that was irrelevant now, he was gone. His death did not surprise her, despite his immense power, she had felt the immensity of his ego when he seemingly opened his mind and killed all of her Acolytes when they attempted to read him, but she truly laughed for the first time in many years when she identified the second energy signature that she had detected. In a masterful touch of irony the Tear of Elynie - which her sister had been so adamant to secure - had been uncloaked on the Astral Place with the death of Vez’Nan. She was close and it called to her, both in the gem seared into her - created to reflect its power - but also through her blood, which still held a spark of the power of Elynie.A smirk emerged on her lips, perhaps the world was not done with her just yet.

Playstyle Overview:Desperate and demented, Ainyl will act in a reasonably supportive and commanding role provided her shield remains, but should it be destroyed she uses her powers more frantically and wildly, dealing greater damage but with far more selfish and self-sustaining additional effects. Balancing these two forms may take some getting used to, but canny players can soon find a place for the Twilight Princess to fill that makes the most of all her quirks and abilities.

Diana, the Host:As a Renegade, Diana wears ornate blue armour over her chest, abdomen and legs, enunciated with golden blades of metal on her shoulders, forearms and thighs - also occupied by a number of grey daggers made of jagged stone. An azure Kopis occupies her right hand, with a golden shield like the one atop a Renegade Post firmly in her left - albeit larger and with cyan paint around its scuffed edges. A viscous black liquid crawls over her flesh and absent-mindedly moves to flow across her shield, drip from her sword and taint her blue chest-plate.[i]

Powers: Subtle Splinter (5 seconds): Diana throws one of the stone daggers on her waist at an enemy to burst with the blue light that shines from its cracks, silencing abilities while removing any active ability effects and destroying 2/4/5% of their physical armour, dealing 50 damage if they have none. {Deals 100 additional damage to enemies without physical armour and adds 2/4/5% magic resistance to them, but permanently increases their base damage by 5-5.}Lacerating Strike (15 seconds): Diana’s Kopis shines and becomes white at its cutting edge as she makes 2/4/6 quick slashes that each deal 44-56 physical damage. {Becomes overtaken with the disgusting black liquid, gaining double the effect of Contaminate at the cost of 25 health and dealing double damage to enemies without armour at the cost of 50 health}Cyclical Sickle (25 seconds): With a myriad of white and blue light twisting around her blade, Diana holds it behind and above her for a second before plunging it into an enemy, dealing 200/400/600 physical damage and restoring 100/200/300 health to Diana in a font of white light - reducing cooldown by 5 seconds if restoring her to above maximum health. {Black light smothers the Kopis to form a wickedly-shaped Darkblade, dealing 400 more damage to enemies with magic resistance at the cost of 75 health, dealing True Damage if relevant at the cost of 25 health and immediately being refreshed if overkilling an enemy at the cost of 50 health. Instead of healing Diana, the Darkblade leaves black smudges of the symbiote over enemies for 5 seconds, forming a cocoon similar to that of a Drider, albeit black and with webs at its base, for 10 seconds when they die from which Diana can respawn upon her own death.}Newtonian Shield (35 seconds): With her golden shield rippling with white energy at its edges, Diana holds it in front of her for 3/7/10 seconds, taking 50% less damage for this duration and causing shards of gold to fly at enemies that damage her, returning 50% of the damage taken. She attacks during this duration by jabbing her sword over the top of the shield and can still use her other abilities. {Energy around the shield becomes black tendrils and 100% of damage taken is returned to enemies in the form of Subtle Splinters, complete with their attributes but Diana only resists 15% of incoming damage.}.Hero Spell: Accelerated Symbiosis (20 seconds):. Bonding with Diana on a molecular level, the symbiote fully covers her before receding, leaving her blue armour stained black and wrapping dark tendrils around her body, permanently granting her abilities {powerful additional effects} at the cost of her own health. If she has already been embraced by the symbiote, she instead forces it back in a golden flash, returning her armour to blue and removing the {additional impacts} of her abilities. If used on an enemy instead of Diana, the symbiote smothers and rejects this new host and turns acidic, permanently removing 25/50/75/100% physical armour and adding 10/25/35/50% magic resistance. If used on enemies with >50% magic resistance, it deals physical damage equal to 10x the remaining magic resistance after increasing to 100%. (Accelerated Symbiosis (15 seconds): Bonding on a Molecular level for 3/6/9 seconds, Diana’s abilities gain {powerful additional effects} at the cost of her own health.)

Lore:Dead.

Shunned, Exiled, Killed. Such was the way of the Renegades who left the Twilight cause and joined with their bitter rivals. Elves, men and creatures they had been fed lies and propaganda about for almost a decade, whom they still resented with every fibre of their existence, yet that paled compared to their disgust at the practises of the Evokers in praising Mactans, the acts of Heretics against those who spoke out and in the warped and at the mere existence of the mindless Driders that remained of their allies. Diana had been one of the first to leave - not the first to try, nor the first to succeed, but she had been there since near enough to the beginning of their cause. They amassed and armed themselves and guarded the island which held the Tear, holding a bloodless standoff with their old allies before they were scattered as Mactans and Malicia returned. Reconvening as the Sylvan forces arrived, they had fought and died to protect the future and their honour against their blood kin - or what remained of them. Despite the rippling dissent in the Twilight ranks, only a few left to become Renegades and fewer still survived the battle for Elynie’s Tear. Diana had not survived. She had been held immobile by a Heretic’s Dark Grip as an Avenger bore down on her; as he had maimed Vaati and finished her with his blasting curse; as Raenys - their leader, the first to throw herself into exile - had thrown herself at the Avenger and killed him; as the purple lightning glanced Raenys with an almost gentle caress and disintegrated her into dust. She had just regained mobility and her senses when the shadow of the Abomination loomed over her before crashing down and pinning her in place. Her death had been logged and recorded when the Abomination’s corpse withered and rotted into a corrosive black substance with speed as unnatural as its brief existence and her body had been reclaimed from beneath it.And then she had awoken, to no greater surprise than her own. But she could feel another consciousness within her now - the viscous darkness had a will of its own, but their wills seemed aligned for the largest part - gain revenge on other Twilight Elves. She could see nobody else in the Post that had been her home for a while and so claimed a curved blade and golden shield as her own. The other will enjoyed these weapons and their sharp points. Together they could do so much more, if only she let it in.She had died at the Shrine of Elynie. Memorialised in the history records and with her spear added into the memorial of spears that lay on the plinth of the Goddess.Yet here she was.

Alive?

Playstyle Overview:A hero with a half-life and a hatred for enemy mages, Diana has tankiness and self-sustain from all of her powers and can dish out some excellent damage, but with the symbiote activated this damage climbs to dizzying heights under specific circumstances, albeit at great cost. Taking note of Cyclical Sickle and its activation will form the crux of Symbiote-Diana playstyle, as it provides her a method to respawn and restore her health, let alone its huge amounts of damage like with all of her symbiote abilities.

All of the characters you made are very interesting, so I'll go ahead and write my quick thoughts on all 4 of them:

"Ainyl the Scorned" is my personal favourite of the 4 for her shield mechanic that she can manipulate using either friend or foe alike. Beyond that, she seems very vampiric in play style, having a lot of abilities that damage the enemy and heals her, and to top it off her armor / resistance makes her virtually unkillable unless she has to deal with far stronger enemies.

"Diana the Host" boasts a lot of damage and tankiness, and some of her abilities are similar to Ainyl's. Her ultimate is very complex to so do many different things under various circumstances, that I can barely keep up with what applies to when. I would suggest generalizing it a bit more, but that's just me.

"Burden the Innocent" seems like a mage that is meant to deal with large crowds of enemies, seeing as he can curse enemies to share damage with the one who is taking the direct hits. But the sheer amount of damage he can do to those large crowds is astounding.

"Sylvio the Survivor" seems like an agile damage-dealer that has a lot of offensive abilities up his sleeve, as well as a lot of dodging. His innate abilities, though, grant him so much potential damage it's ludicrous on paper.

I think the general point I'm trying to make in this brief review is that you weren't kidding when you said you tend to make your characters "ridiculously OP," and you know what, I'm somehow fine with that. Although I imagine some of the enemies these guys would hypothetically face would be very powerful as well?

On a more serious note, some of the abilities of certain characters feel too similar to others (e.g. vampiric abilities of Diana and Ainyl), and I would consider tweaking them so they feel more unique.

All in all, these are very interesting characters you have created, and I especially love the sheer amount of lore you add to them.

I think that these guys would be facing slightly tougher enemies, but ultimately I should probably shave 50-100 damage from powers here and there so they can fit more naturally into the game, but eh, i don't mind them being powerful - where's the fun in being lacklustre?

I'll definitely have a look at tweaking Ainyl and Diana's powers so that they are more distinct, I don't like their similarities either.